My little Ranger - shadows of Almia
by Jade Inkwell
Summary: Lighting Heart is a pegasus who wants to be the first of her kind to be a ranger. When she starts the ranger school her whole world wideneds, with her new friends Keith and Rythmi and her long lost twin brother, Lighting shield, she is going to start a journey of a lifetime. KiethXOc, RythmiXoc IsaacXoc
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - A filly from Fiore

Hi, I'm Lighting Heart, a pegasus from Flutterington in the Fiore Region. I'm 15, but don't have my cutie mark. I don't mind, after all, my dream is to be a Pokemon Ranger.

I flew past some Starly, Staravia and Staraptor.

"Evening." I waved to them. They cried in reply. I smiled. I had always had a strong bond with Pokemon. My dream was to be the first Pegasus to go to the ranger school. See, most... now when I say most, I mean almost all, anyway, most Pegasi go to the ranger flight academy. There, they learn to raise and help flying pokemon. Not me, sometimes I love being grounded, there are so many more pokemon on ground. I landed on a cloud with a building made from the cloud. I closed my wings and trotted in. "Hiya everypony!" I greeted my family. My mother was cooking, my dad reading the Fiore times and my little sister, Silver wing, bouncing around, there was a letter in her mouth. as soon as she saw me she fluttered over holding the letter out. I took it in my hoof and ripped it open. I took out at letter.

"What does it say?" Dad asked

"Dear Lighting Heart...It will be a complete honour to have you as our first Pegasi student!" I squeale excitedly "I got in!" I cheered

"Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes!" Silver jumped around me. I giggled, I quickly flew up stairs, grabbed the bag I had packed in case I got in, before heading down again.

"Then I had better go, I have a bit of a fly ahead of me." I said

"Be careful sweetie." my mom kissed me.

"I will. See ya when I graduate!" I smiled, I ran out side, raising my wings, I took off. To reach the Ranger School in Almia meant I had to pass the Ranger flight Academy. Everypony attending the Flight academy was out, a lesson on night flying Pokémon.

"Hey look!" somepony yelled " The blank flank is running away!" the others laughed and jeered.

"Whatever, I'm on my way to a new school. " I said, stopping by the gates. The teachers had been laughing, they suddenly stopped at that.

"Yeah, what school would have you?" One asked

"The Ranger School, and I don't wanna be late!" I stuck out my tongue, and flew off.

Soon enough, I saw the school. There were ponies outside, I landed outside the gates, not sure what to do. Then a Stallion with a green jacket and hat trotted over.

"Hello there." He smiled

"Hi, I'm Lighting Heart!" I said nervously. The Stallion's smile brightened.

"So, you're Lighting Heart. Come in and follow me." I did. The students watched me, most were unicorns, there were a fair few Earth ponies too.I was shown to a smaller building. "You'll need this!" A Styler floated in front of me. The reason no earth or pegasi ponies became rangers ...we didn't have magic. I looked at it sadly, the solution I had wouldn't work. "Ah...well..." I went for it away - I took the Styler in my mouth. The teacher looked at me. "Well, it works!" He smiled "Now, capture that Pikachu!"

"Pika... CHU!" The Pikachu attacked, I took off, hoovering above. I activated the Styler and began my first capture. I brought the styler down, then across to the left, the back down to the right. The silvery blue line entered the Pikachu, making my capture a success. The Pikachu went over to the teacher.

"Hehe...My name, it is Kaplan. You are now a member of our secret army, the inscrutable team School. As proof of your member ship, you are conferred the school styler." I glanced down at the styler, was this guy serious..."Together, we shall rule the world..."

"Oh, please, Mr. Kaplan." A light chestnut mare with a hazel mane trotted in and stood next to me. "Please don't tease my student with a silly performance like 's the second time today..." I smiled, she was my teacher? She seemed very nice. And, I am not the only new student..?

"Ahahahahah, Sorry, sorry. The timing was just too perfect to miss." Mr. Kaplan laughed. "Ahem. Congratulations. You have passed the Ranger school's entrance exam with flying colours. That really was quite an impressive capture."

"Congratulations! You've been accepted. Starting today, you are officially a student of the ranger school." My teacher smiled. "I'm Ms. April. I'm your classes teacher. I'm pleased to meet you. Your classmates are waiting for you. I'll show you to our class." began leading me away.

"Enjoy your school life!" Mr. Kaplan smiled.

"Ms. April, who is the other new student?" I asked as we trotted across the grounds.

"Another Pegasus like you. I believe his name is Lighting Shield." Ms. April said, I couldn't wait to meet him.

I followed her to my class, I waited at the back as she went to speak to the class. I was so nervous.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, class. And good morning everypony." Ms. April smiled

"Good morning." My class mates coursed.

"As I mentioned yesterday and to you earlier today, Shield, We have amother new member for our class." The whole class began muttering excitedly.

"Is it a guy?Or a girl?" A brown maned stallion asked "Which is it?"

"Is the new student cute? Cool? Or look like a celebrity?" A girl questioned. I was feeling even more nervous, what if they didn't like what I looked like? I began feeling sick.

"Okay, that's enough!" Ms. April saw the look on my face, I smiled thankfully. "You can see for yourselves." Here's our latest classmate. Come on up." The whole class turned as I walked forward, I joined Ms. April "Our new friend came alone to our Almia region to become a pokemon ranger, Oh yes." Ms. April turned to me. "You should introduce yourself to our class rather then me." I nodded, I looked at my class.

"Hi, I'm Lighting Heart, I hope we can all be friends." I smiled, A blonde earth pony made smiled happily nodding.

"Let's make Lighting Heart feel welcome." Ms. April said "I understand that she scored quite well on our entrance exam...What is it Keith? Why the big grin?" A red maned unicorn stallion was grinning, the other pegasus was on his right. I had a feeling that me and the unicorn would be great friends, he looked competitive. "Anyway, we had better get you seated somewhere Heart...You can have the seat next to Keith." I took the seat on Keith's left, he watched until I sat down, then looked back at Ms. April. "Okay, that's it for treating you like a new transfer student. From now on, you're all my students, ponies whom I can take pride in teaching. Let's do it everypony...Let's not fail your dreams of becoming Rangers, operators and Mechanics!"

"Yeah!" The class cheered, I could feel the positive energy! Smiling I knew I was going to love it here!

"Okay, I'll change the class schedule specially for today." Ms. April smiled. "It will be a self study day." Ms. April came over to me. "But before I go Heart, I need to explain something to you." Ms. April showed me the different functions on my styler. Keith yawned a lot, I guess he already knew, by oh well! turned to the blonde earth pony who smiled at me. "Rhythmic, Can I get you to show Heart around the school please?"

"I sure will!" Rhythmic smiled cheerfully.

"I'll be in the staff room." Ms. April smiled "I'll leave you to it." And she left the class, suddenly the class surrounded me, there were only six, including Rythmi and Keith.

"Hi Heart, I'm Glitter Star." The made who asked if I was cute or cool smiled

"I'm Sliver Spanner." The only other stallion, other then Keith and Shield.

"Roselin Bud." The last mare said

"Hey, new kid. I forgot your name, but how long did it take for you to capture the pikachu?" Keith said, I turned to him " Like an hour?"

"Why? Is that how long you took?" I replied, the class giggled, Keith looked almost impressed

"I'm Lighting Shield." Shield smiled, he had the same colowe mane as me, but was a light blue, the same tone as my purple coat. "Hope we can be friends."

"Totally!" I nodded

"Keith's just a show off." Rythmi said, I looked at her. "You're better off ignoring him. Instead, you should be paying attention to me." She smiled. "I'm not here to become a Ranger. I want to become an Operator instead. So, when Keith becomes a ranger, I can order him around like my servant." She giggled. "Just joking!" I chuckled "All right, let me take you on a tour of the ranger school! Let's begin in our own class room."

"Okay." I nodded

"You've already met our teacher, Ms. April. She's really nice, but if you make her mad...look out." Rythmi warned "There's another class next to ours. The teacher is Mr. Kincaid. He's very up tight and strict 'No running in the hallway' is lime his pet saying."

"Okay..." I made mental note to watch out for Mr. Kancaid

"Okay, let's move on. we'll explore the school building." Rythmi led me out of the class, down the hall and up stairs. I ended up flying up as it was easier. "Our dorms are here on the second floor. This is where we all bunk down, coed style, not in the same bedroom, of course. The boy is on the left, ours are on the right." Rythmi explained, "Manic, the lady there." She pointed her hoof at a Made who wore an apron, her cutie mark was a pokemon egg and a bottle. she had a motherly ora. "She's the caretaker. She's like a mom to us all." Rythmi turned to a machine. "That's a rechange machine. It's for recharging your styler to full. We headed downstairs and went into the room on our right. "This is the library, also known as Keith's nap room." I giggled, Rythmi smiled, she pointed towards a boy at the back. "That bkoy in the back wit a hair cut like a mushroom is Isaac. He's awesomely smart. You can usually find him right here in there library. Sometimes, he goes off somewhere though...Let's move to the next room." We left the library and went to the room on the other side of the stairs. "The staff room." Rythmi said

"Cool..." I muttered, I hooves next to Rythmi, my wings not making a sound. Ms. April was drinking tea.

"Usually, only our Principal is here. Our principal is Mr. Lamont. His eyes are always twinkling behind his glasses. I like him pretty well." Mr. Lament noticed us and waved a hoof. Rythmi and I waved back. "We have one last room."

"Mr. Kincaid's class room, right?" I asked, Rythmi nodded, she led the way, as soon as we entered, Mr. Kincaid looked at us, I landed lightly, looking down.

"Sorry to disturb you." Rythmi said "I'm taking our new class mate on a tour of the school."

"Jeez..." I whispered, the teacher seemed to be in bad moof.

"That's Mr. Kincaid, he gets his mane to go that way with a ton of mane spray. He's a little too uptight I think. I'm not a big fan." Rythmi whispered, we left the class. A bell rang causing me to jump. "There goes the bell. We can go outside now!" We both raced outside, I took to the air again. The cool sea breeze hit me, taking a deep breath, I smiled happily.

"It's beautiful out here." I sighed. There were a few pokemon here and any there, they seemed happy too.

"That small building is the training room. That's where Mr. Kaplan will teach you about performing captures. Ms. Clair is also there, she teaches about clearing targets. We practice that over there." Rythmi pointed to a field. "That reminds me...Do you know about clearing targets?" I gave her a confused look. "Your expression tells me you don't know. Well, that,s all right. That's why we have a training room!" Rythmi smiled, we headed to the building.

" and Ms. Clair! Can you give us a special lesson please?" Rythmi asked as we entered the training room. We approached two teachers, one I knew.

"Hehehe...Welcome to the inscrutable team school's secret hideout." Mr. Kaplan said, a female teacher sighed.

"Yes, yes, we've heard that before. Let's pay no attention to and his make-believe conspiracy."

"Oh! Please don't ignore me. I'll be serious and introduce myself. Um...My name's Mr. Kaplan, I teach the fundamentals of capture."

"And I'm Ms. Clair. Glad to meet you. It's my job to teach you about performing target clears."

"I know you had to do a capture for the entrance exam, but... I think you should learn about capturing properly once more." Rythmi shyly suggested.

"You're right, I need to learn all I can to be a good Ranger." I nodded, Rythmi watched as I did my two special lessons. Once they were over, we left talking about the lessons, Rythmi was giving me extra tips. She would make a great Operator.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..." A voice gasped "Help, Somepony! Anypony, catch the Bidoof for me." Rythmi and I gasped, Bidoof were running all over the place.

"J-Janice?" Rythmi gasped "She's having trouble with the Bidoof." She turned to me "Please Heart! Capture the Bidoof and get them to settle down!"

"Right!" I nodded, I was about to take off.

"Ha, I was wondering what the Ruckus was all about. Lbooks like a good time that's up for grabs." I saw Keity by the doors. Shield was behind him, he watched the Bidoof running around.

"Keith, don't just stand there!" Rythmi said " You help with captures too."

"It won't be much fun is I just help." Keith muttered, he looked straight at me. "Hey, newkid, I challenge you!"

"Oh boy..." I took hold of my styler in my mouth and got ready for captures.

"We'll have a capture race, you and me. We'll see who can capture the most Bidoof, all right?" Keith grinned

"Can't you make the effort to learn our classmates name?" Rythmi asked "You can be so annoying Keith. Go ahead and have your silly race, or whatever, but hurry up!" Rythmi looked at me, I shrugged and glared at Keith, How annoying...

"Okay, let's get on with it! Three! Two! One! Start!" Keith said, I went after the closest Bidoof, My main mission, help Janice, who cared if I lost. My first capture was a Bidoof Duo. My first group capture! I captured two more Bidoof, the last. I took them back to Janice.

"Good work!" Rythmi smiled as I put my Styler away.

"Rangers help Ponies, it's my duty." I chuckled, Keith had five Bidoof. He may have captured more, but at least I acted like a Ranger.

"Impressive." Shield agreed with Rythmi

"I captured five." Keith smiled " That means you captured...um...four...that means...victory is mine."

"I didn't really want to race anyway..." I mumbled

"Keith looked good at it too." Janice smiled. " Of course, I need to thank our new friend and Rythmi, too. Thank you for this. This is a big relief for me." Janice said "And to the leader of the Bidoof. I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to tread on your tail. I'll make it up to you with tastier treats than usual. Come along everyone." Janice led the Bidoof away. I stretched my wings, that was a good days work. I couldn't wait to write to Silver Wing!

"I rate your captures 65 out of 100." Keith said "...Hey, but you know... I'll be honest. I was surprised by how you did. You might be decent for some pony who just found out about this."

"Thanks Keith." I smiled, taking it as a good thing.

"You said your name was Lighting Heart, right?" Keith asked, I just blinked, too surprised to answer.

"Oh, you, Keith. You knew our friends name all along!" Rythmi said " For goodness sake...Oh, that's right! There's somewhere I haven't shown you yet!"

"What? You mean Ascension square." Keith asked

"Yes." Rythmi nodded

"Then I'll go too." Keith said

"And me." Shield added

"Oh, all right. I guess we'll let you come with us." Rythmi said, she looked at me "Come on Heart." they led me to the eastern side of the school yard, and down some stairs to a place with a statue. "This is Ascension square, next month, there's going to be a special class here. It's the outdoor class" Rythmi said "That statue there is called the pledge stone."

"Wow..." I smiled, we went over to it.

"If you make a firm pledge to each other with your friends here, it will surely come true. That's what the Principle told me. And there you have it. That concludes Rythmi's school tour of wonder and excitement." Rythmi smiled at me. "Heart! I'm glad to have met you! I hope we can be friends for a long time."

"Hey, hold it now!" Keith butted in, he looked at me sternly. "Don't worry about Rythmi! Be friends with me, Okay!" Suddenly the bell rang.

"Oh, there goes the bell, we'd better get back to class." Rythmi said "Buy, boy oh boy, Keith, aren't you a slick one!"

"I have a better idea." I flew above them, next to Shield "Let's all be friends!" we all laughed and headed back to class.

That night

I was busy finishing a letter to Silver Wing and my parents, I told them all about my new friends, most Shield, how we shared a likeness, not just in looks but in name too. Once it was down, I put it down and flew over to Rythmi.

"Heart, do you write letters?" Rythmi asked

"Just finished one to my little sister." I smiled

"I'm thinking about writing to my parents about you Heart!" Rythmi smiled back

"I told my sister about you, Keith and Shield." I said "She'll loved to know I've made friends already."

"I hope she replies." Rythmi said "...Say...let's sneak out for a while. Rythmi and I headed out of the dorm. Rythmi trotting carefully, me flying behind on silent wings. Our class mates seemed to be waiting, we joined them. "Thanks for waiting." Rythmi smiled

"Yeah, kept us waiting Rythmi." Keith sighed, I hooves next to Shield, he looked just as confused as I was.

"Okay, let's get started with our test of courage to welcome Heart and Shield!" Rythmi said, I looked at her aand Keith.

"Keep it down, but yay!" The others whispered a cheer.

"What?" I asked

"We just want you to prove you're brave. I hade to do it before too. It's no big deal." Keith said "But, you know, you do have that easily spooked look to you. No offence."

"The rule are simple. The 4 of us have hidden our stylers in 4 different places in the school. They are : Ms. April's classroom, Mr. Kincaid's Classroom, The staffroom and the Library." Rythmi explained "Gather all 4 stylers, then put them in front of the door in the basement room. Its not hard or anything, but it's also not safe to go alone."

"I see..." I said, Shield glance at me

"That's why we've always had this one rule. The student seated next to the initiate has to do too." Shield and I looked down at Keith.

"Gweh! You mean me!" Keith sighed.

"Okay, you three. Off you go." Rythmi smiled. We headed downstairs, Shield and I decided to fly through this test, it would be easier.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!" Keith cried, I glared at him, Shield just looked utterly confused. "Wah... th-there's something there!" I looked forward

"It's only a Bidoof Keith." I smiled

"Oh, yeah...It startled me, that's all..." Keit looked away, I giggled to myself as we headed to Ms. April's classroom first. "But wow, that sire spooked me. You...you two were spooked too, right?" Keith asked on the way.

"I guess." Shield said

"Not really." I told them. "My dad owns a farm, I'm use to seeing pokemon in the dark... all flying type s though." I capture the Bidoof, so it wouldn't sppok poor Keith again. It was a good thing too, there were boxes blocking the walkway between chairs.

"Even our own classroom's kind of creepy at night." Keith muttered "Hey, I'll give you a hint even, what wasn't here during the day? That's what it is."

"5 big boxes, that's what..." Shield sighed, I was thoughtful. Knowing Rythmi, she would not make it easy... I guess the Styler was in the box by the desk. I cleared one box with Bidoof, before having to go and re capture it for another target cLear. Once the box by 's desk was cleared, I found a styled, I picked it up, one down, three to go. Mr. Kincaid's class next. "Come on guys!" I flew ahead, the boy's close behind.

"I'll do this one." Shield said, Keith and I stood back as Shield approached the Styler, which had been left on the side. He had to capture a zubat to get it, I was impressed, I zubat could be pretty nasty.

"Two more, the Library next." I smiled, Shield captured the Bidoof in the hall, sure enough there were boxes in the Library blocking the way, luckily there was another Bidoof in the room. Shield decided to do this one. we then made our way to the staff room. Nothing was in this room, apart from a Pichu.

"This is the Staff room...the hint for this room is... The styler we hid doesn't stay stil. You understand, don't you?" Keith looked at my face.

"The Pichu has it." I sighed, I had to chase the Pichu before I got a chance to capture it and get the styler. I glared at Keith as I picked up the final styler. "Ibet it was your idea." Keith said nothing, but grinned. "Anyway, this is the last one."

"Good, good, that's all of them, then." he sighed "Let's take them down to the basement ." The three of us head down. Shield had to use Zubat to clear a target, I had to use a Bidoof to clear another. "Hey...Heart, Shield...have you been hearing anything? Like weird noises?" Keith asked

"No." Shield shook his head

"I think so, but it is probably a Pokémon." I said, we reached the door.

"Plunk down those stylers here, then we can go back to the dorms, and we're done." Keith said "But hustle will you? I can't take much more of this..." He stopped "Ssssh... I do hear something funny." Suddenly 4 Gastly appeared. "BWAAAAAA!" Kwith yelled, I got out my styler and tried a group capture.

I capture 3 together and one alone. I sighed, that was hard.

"Oh, it was just Gastly..." Keith began

"WHO'S THERE?!" Mr. Kincaid came out of the room startling all of us. "The bse Kent is off limits to everypony but myself!"

"Awww, shoot! Run for it!" Keith said, we took off back to the dorms, Shield and I still holding 2 stylers each.

"You're back!...Why do you still have the stylers?" Rythmi asked, We looked at the stylers and began laughing.

"Long story." Shield and I gave back the stylers.

"But, let's say Mr. Kincaid won't be too happy with us in the morning..." I chuckled "We should get to bed." The others agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Outdoor class.

 _To Heart,Thank you for writing! And congratulations for getting into the Ranger school._

 _I have news for you too._

 _Mama and Papa are talking about moving over there._

 _Silver wing._

I smiled at her letter, but it was the letter from my parents that caused my to hurriedly get changed and rush out, ShieLD looked like he had rushed too. He too was carrying a letter in his mouth. Before we could say anything, we read each others letters... we then looked at each other.

"Are you too okay?" Janice asked trotting over. I nodded, putting my letter in my pocket, Shield did the same.

"Yes, we just both fkundou we as closer then we believed." Shield put his wing over me.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked, Shield and I grinned

"Seems we are twins that were parted when we were little!" I smiled, Shield and I hoof bumped.

I had been here for a month now, Rythmi, Keith, Shield and I were becoming closer friends. I was sitting at my desk, for today was an exciting day indeed. Well, other then finding out I had a twin brother.

"Okay, I have a question for every pony. What day is it today?" Ms. April asked

"Outdoor class!" We all jumped up , cheering.

"Oh, come on, we wouldn't forget about outdoor class!" Keith said

"Ms. April, Keith told us that he thought up 38 questions to ask the ranger!" Rythmi told he.

"Well, how enthusiastic!" Ms. April, smiled. "Okay class, let's go outside. We'll gather in Ascension square. Everypony left, leaving g, me, Rythmi, Keith and Shield.

"Yahoo! I've waited so long for outdoor class!" Keith galloped off.

"Did he really say 'Yahoo'?" Rythmi asked

"Yep." I nodded

"Keith's too pumped up for this." Rythmi sighed, we followed the way to Ascension square. Keith was waiting.

"Hey, hurry! What's keeping you? Outdoor class is about to get started!" Keith asked

"I think the ranger must be here already." Rythmi nodded

"Yeah, there's a gangly range with a giant afro!" Keith said, we hurried and joined our class mates.

"Well, it appears as if everypony's with us. Let's get this outdoor class started." Principle Lamont said. "This is Crawford. He's graduate of this Ranger school. And now, he's a Pokémon ranger in Vientown."

"I'm Crawford. Nice to meet you everypony!" The ranger smiled

"Thank you for coming." We all said. A Budew appeared at Crawford's side.

"This here's my partner Pokémon, Budew." Crawford said, more Pokémon showed themselves. "And these are my friend Pokémon."

"Wow, so cool." Everypony muttered

"Hi Crawford! It's been a long time!" said "But that giant explosion of an Afro... I think I liked your mane style the way it was makes me nervous to see that kind of jumbled up out growth of anything." I giggled to myself "But that's enough of that. We're all here, so let's begin. Let's get to outdoor class's main event. The question and answer session of terror. Let the questions begin."

"Crawford, why did you decide to become a Ranger?" Spanner asked

"Well, it's because I love Pokémon. I want to become friends with them. You know, bond with them. Beside, it's a cool job." Crawford answered

"That's the same way I feel." Spanner said "I'm glad I asked you."

"I have a question!" The only made from the other class said, I do believe her name was Magic Style."What kinds of Pokémon are difficult to Capture?"

"Well, speaking only for myself...Psychic and ghost group Pokémon, yeah. They have this habit of going poof and dispersing during captures." Crawford said

"Ghost Pokémon do that?!" Magic gasped

"Me! I'm next! My name is Rythmi! There isn't anything I'd rather do then become an Operator." Rythmi told him " Do you think I can become one? You can tell I came become one, can't you?"

"I'm only seeing you for the first time ever, so it's not like I know, but...Sure thing! No problems! You'll be an Operator all right!"

"That's right!" Rythmi smiled "Those are the words I wanted to hear! Yes!"

"Rythmi, are you confusing our ranger with a fortuneteller or something?" Keith said "Excuse me Ranger. How about me? Will I become a ranger?"

"Say, aren't you confusing me with a fortuneteller, too?" Crawford grinned "But, I can tell this about you. Your strong will shines through loud and proud. I'm sure you'll make it. Why, you might even have the fixings to make a better ranger than me!" I looked over at Keith who was smiling." But, that's if you can avoid spinning your wheels, so to speak."

"Uh...Is that right?! I'll do the best I can!" Keith smiled. "Uh, Okay, here's my second question..."

"No fair, Keith! One question each!" Roselin said " Ranger Crawford is busy too. So, on to my question. Have you ever made any mistakes?"

"Mistakes, you ask. That all was there when I started." Crawford chuckled "Like the time I dumped juice all over my styler. That was nasty. Or the time I tried to capture a stuffed cool. Oh, and another time I put my ranger uniform on top of my Pajamas..." He stopped and blushed slightly. "Hold up, don't make me say these things!" We all laughed.

"What makes you glad that you became a ranger?" A boy, Leaf, from the other class asked

"I'd have to say the big smiled we be to see after helping ponies or Pokémon in need." Crawford answered

"I hope I he to see smiles like that soon!" Leaf said

"That's the spirit!" Crawford smiled " Keep that spirit burning, and you'll be sure to succeed! I'm looking forward to the chance of working with you folks someday. Keep a positive attitude and work hard."

"We will!" We coursed

"My question next!" Glitter smiled. "Ranger Crawford, has ever been angry with you?" Crawford looked over at .

"I'll say she has. She used to blow up at me once a day!" Crawford grinned

"Now, you know that isn't true. It wasn't once a day. It had to be at least three times a day." stept forward. "But, that's not the whole story. Crawford was a wonderful student. He kept every ponies spirit's up with his kindness and sense of humour." Suddenly something rang. Crawford looked at his styler.

 _'Voicemail, voicemail.' a voice said 'Crawford do you hear me? It's me , Barlow, There's a man time hurt off the eastern shore of school Island. The mantine appeartly ran into cargo ship. Liana's heading to the school by boat for you." I looked at Keith, who looked back worried. 'Join up with her, Crawford, and head to the sight immediately. We're going to need your help on this one!'_

"Roger, Leader!" Crawford nodded, a stern look on his face.

"Please save Mantine!" I said, Crawford looked at me.

"Yes, please Ranger Crawford!" The others agreed. He smiled and did a ranger pose! I had to have one that was just as cool!

"Hold on Mantine! We're coming to save you!" He turned to Principal Lamont. "Principal Lamont, since the students are so worried, I'll report back on how the mission went. I'm sorry I have to cut the outdoor class short like this!"

"There's no need to apologize. Besides, listen. Isn't that your boat?" Principal Lamont said. We all looked at the dock, there was a boat.

"Crawford, get on quickly! We're heDing to the site!" A female voice called, I guessed it was Luana that Barlow mentioned. Crawford galloped and jumped onto the boat, he turned to us.

"All right students, keep working at it. Let's meet again somewhere sometime." The boat raced away. I flew up to get a better look over the heads of the others.

"It's like we got to watch an awesome scene." Spanner said

"The boat's already tiny on the horizon..." Magic muttered. I watched the boat. Please save mantine. I thought.

"Well, Everypony." said, we all turned to her. "That was the shortest outdoor class ever. But it was certainly was the mkost gripping and realistic of All outdoor class's too. Okay, everypony. Let's return to our classrooms." Everypony headed back in, apart from me, shield, Rythmi and Keith. I landed and we turned to each other.

"You know, I'm getting even more pumped up about becoming a ranger!" Jeith smiled. "I still have 37 questions left, but I think I'm going to find those answers myself."

"The best way to do things." I nodded. Rythmi gave a small excited giggle.

"A real ranger guarantee that I would be an Operator!" She smiled

"There are no guarantees anywhere. You have to grab hold of your dreams and make them come true." Keith said

"You think I don't know that?" Rythmi asked him "I'm going to grab it. I'll make my dream come true!"

"I'm not going to lose , either! Not when I have rival like Heart!" Keith said

"Thanks, I'm never going to give up!" I laughed

"Hey, why don't the four of us make a pledge right now by the pledge stone?" Kieth suggested "Let's pledge to each other that we'll make our dreams come true!"

"You bet! I'll pledge that!" Rythmi said "Heart, Shield, What about you?"

"I pledge myself too, let's reach for our dreams!" I smiled

"Me too!" Shield nodded

"That's the spirit!" Rythmi grinned. "Let's get back to class." The four of us headed back to the school.


	3. Chapter 3

chapter 3 - Voicemail and the Missing Stylers.

 _Heart,_

 _Thank you for writing!_

 _ReDing about outdoor class was really exciting!_

 _Oh, and we are going to move out there! We're looking for a house now!_

 _Silver wing_

Rythmi and I were talking, waiting for class to begin.

"Everypony, your attention please." Ms. April said, we all looked up. "Do you remember that Mantine Crawford went to rescue during our outdoor class. The ranger union took it in and nursed it back to health. This morning, the mantine was safely returned to the sea."

"Yay!" We cheered

"Now that we're all feeling good about that news, let's get our lesson started. Today, as Scheduled, the topic is the team work between rangers and operators." Ms. April said, using her magic she wrote on the board. "If there is no trust between Ranger and Operator, it's disastrous. Even a simple mission could become impossible to manage. Rangers go where there are no roads to guide them. It's the job of the operators to light the way for Rangers where no roads exist." Ms. April looked at everypony. "Of course, that doesn't littererally mean hold a flashlight for Rangers in the field. Operators support Rangers in other ways, like recharging their stylers. Not only that, Operators provide Rangers with information and advice. The operators reach out to Rangers all over from the Unions operation room. Does anypony know what they call that communication system?"

"Yes, it's called voicemail!" Rythmi answered, I smiled.

"Correct, however, Your school styler is not fitted with the voicemail feature." Ms. April held up two red stylers with her magic. "But look here. I have two stylers with the voicemail feature turned on. We were able to borrow them specially from the Ranger union. Principal Lamont, who was there on business, had to ask for them himself. We'll use them today to demonstrate the field operator s of Rangers. Let's start with Rythmi as the operator and Keith doing the Ranger part." I looked at the empty seat between me and Shield.

"Ms. April, Keith isn't here yet." Rythmi said

"Oh, you're right...Did Keith sleep in? That's not like him though." Ms. April sighed "Well, fine, we'll get Heart to do the Ranger part." She gave us the stylers.

"Oh wow! I can communicate using this!" Rythmi grinned "Hello, can you hear me? This is Rythmi. come in, Ranger!"

"I can her you, I'm right here." I said

"Well, then, we should get farther apart and try again." Rythmi told me

"Right." Holding the styler in my hoof, I flew towards the door, but Mr. Kincaid came in.

"Hey, no running in the classroom either!" I landed glarinbg at him. "Ah, Ms. April, I'm awfully sorry to disrupt your class." Mr. Kincaid said "There is a small matter about which I would like to speak to Keith."

"Oh, well...Keith is running late today. It's not like him, but..." began

"Late you say...you see, we have a problem on our hooves. We had a number of Stylers stored in the staff room. Had, I say. Now the entire lot of them have disappeared." Mr. Kincaid explained "I've already confirmed the innocence of all my students regarding this. But that boy Keith is uncharacteristically absent from this class, you say...perhaps it's taking him time to find a place to 'stash' all those stole stylers."

"Hey!" I snorted angerily, my wings flared open, Rythmi basically jumped off her chair.

"Mr. Kincaid! Keith is a prankster, but he's no thief!" She said

"Oh, do be still! He runs in the hallways, he sneaks into the basement where he's not permitted... It's only natural that he should be viewed with suspicion." Kincaid glared

"Mr. Kincaid. Isn't this what you preach? It's wrong to cast suspicion on others without proof?" Ms. April asked "May I have a little time? I will go as look for Keith and your missing stylers."

"We'll help!"The rest of the class got up too, Mr. Kincaid looked around, then he and Ms. April left followed by our fellow classmates, including Shield.

"Heart! Let's scour the school houses from top to bottom. We have to prove Keith's innocent. If anything comes up, voicemail, okay?" Rythmi said

"Okay." I nodded, Rythmi left first, I took to the air and flew from the classroom, over the students and up stairs. I landed, no Keith in sight up here..Suddenly the stylers voicemail went off.

 _'Voicemail,voicemail. This is Rythmi on ground floor." I heard Rythmi 'Please come down to the front door. And hurry!'_

"Roger!" I said, and took off down stairs. I hoovered beside Rythmi who had been talking to Janice.

"I was getting set to feed the Bidoof in the school hard when I found a styler." Janice said "Did either of you drop yours by any chance?"

"Nope." I shook my head

"Oh, you'be got yours on..." Janice did

"Heart, we should go look in the school yard." Rythmi suggested."Thanks for the clue Janice." We raced outside. "Oh, hey! Look at that!" There was a styler on the grass. "Isn't that one of the stylers that went missing from the staff room?"

"Looks that way." I picked it up.

"There could be more on the ground!" Rythmi smiled "Let's look around!" I flew higher to get a better look, sure enough...

"Over here!" I landed by another styler, Rythmi trotted over as I picked it up.

"Wait...I heard voices...let's go check." We went down stairs. There was Keith and a sneaky looking stallion. "Keith! What are you doing out here? And who is that Stallion?" Rythmi asked, we went to Keith's side.

"That guy's a stinking thief! He came creeping out of the staff room, so I called out at him?" Keith looked at us. "Then, bam, he was off and galloping away."

"Three on one's not fair." The stallion said "I'm scramming. Adiós!" He galloped into tree, 4 stylers fell from his grip, and a slakoth landed on his head. "AhAh!Been,Waahh. I can't see! It's heavy! It hurts!It stinks! Heeelp!" Keith picked up the stylers with his magic.

"Wahahahahaha! A slakoth fell out of the tree! It serves you right. That's what you get for being a thief." Keith laughed

"Please, I won't do it again!" The stallion begged "Heelpp!"

"Let's go." Keith turned to us "Who cares about a thief like that?"

"What are you saying?" Rythmi asked "Its the Rangers job to help ponies in trouble." Rythmi turned to me. "Heart, please! Capture that Slakoth,"

"With Pleasure!" I pulled out my styler, aiming, I released the capture disk.I had to capture it! I brought my styler around, a silver line began to circle, the disk returned to me, and the Slakoth was Captured.. I then released it, it left happily.

"whew...ash...fweh...saved at last... thank you for saving me." The stallion said, Ms. April trotted down the stairs.

"What's going on here?" She asked "You disappeared as well, so we were looking for you."

"Sorry, Ms. April..." I said

"Oh, here's Keith. And the stylers too!" Ms. April said

"Ms. April, this Stallion is the thief who took the stylers." Rythmi told her.

"Yeah, why did you steal our stylers? Do you know how important they are to us?" Keith asked the thief.

"I...I'm sorry...I've always had this dream of becoming a Ranger. But I grew up without doing anything about it...I had so many other dreams that I wanted to follow...but I could never decide what I really wanted to do with my life. But the one dream I could never give up was being a Ranger." The thief explained "I thought, maybe, if I had a styler, then I could do something about it, but..."

"What are you saying? Please don't make me angry here! It doesn't matter how old you are. Even an adult can join our Ranger school!" Ms. April said " With enough effort, even you can become a ranger. If you have a dream yo can't let go of, it's up to you to make it real." The thief went up to her

"I...teacher lady...I also got bewitched when I saw all the stylers sitting there...I was only hoping to be one, but I ended up scooping up the whole lot of them..." He said

"Just like the way it is with you and your dreams." Ms. April smiled kindly "You're greedy, aren't you? You should go home and really think about what you want to do. Why not think about how you could become a Ranger properly."

"I'll do that..." He sighed, the looked shocked "W-w-wait a second! G-go home?! You'll just let me go home? Without any punishment or anything? T-teacher lady...I can't believe it..." He sniffled, Keith looked annoyed, I placed my wing over him, He looked at me. I smiled, causing him to smile back, cheering up. The stallion left, we left, we went to the staff room, where Ms. April explained what happened, how they got the styler back and the thief took off.

"Ah, so that took place in my absence." Principal Lamont said, after hearing our story. "Well, though the thief got away, I'm quite relieved no one was hurt. Recovering the stylers was a bonus." Mr. Kincaid muttered under his breath.

"I must say, I was impressed by Rythmi's belief in her friend. That could be the most essential quality for an operator." Ms. April smiled

"Ehehe..." Rythmi blushed, Ms. April looked at me.

"Heart, your teamwork with Rythmi, and your capture were outstanding." She smiled "I could tell right away from the big smile on the Slakoth's face."

"Thanks ." I smiled, pleased. Ms. April then turned to Keith.

"Keith. You're much to reckless. You must rely on your colleagues more. There is only so much a ranger can do all alone. I think one day, you will be faced with a situation that makes you accept that. That said...there's no denying you did a good deed..." Ms. April said, she frown slightly. "Are you paying attention?" Keith was grumbling under his breath, he stopped and turned to us.

"Rythmi, listen up." Keith said, Rythmi looked at him. "Hey, you understand don't you? The rotten way I feel about this..."

"There's not much we can do..." I said to myself, I shifted my wings slightly. Keith continued.

"But, hey Rythmi... you believed in me and stood up for me, That made me really happy."

"Like the thief today, Perhaps there are shadows always lurking in all of our hearts." Principal Lamont said "What's important is to never give into that darkness in our hearts. It is written in the books of our library...In the Almia region, there is a ancient word : Vatonage."

"Vatonage?" I asked

"It means 'to reawaken the light that has been submerged in darkness. Vatonage...Today, you all shined with the brilliance of gems." Principal Lamont smiled "May you never loose that shine...Oh, my. I have rambled on. I believe it is time ponies returned to their classes.

"Yes, sir." We smiled and headed to our classroom.


	4. Chapter 4

It took forever to think of some cutie marks for the vientown rangers. What do you think of them? Elaine's was my fave. R&R

* * *

Chapter 4 - An important mission on the one day internship.

 _Heart_

 _Thank you for writing._

 _Voicemail, Voicemail!_

 _We chose where we are going to move! It's a place called Chuckle Village in Almia. We can see you when you graduate!_

 _silver wing_

I was excited. Today was our 1 day internship. stood in front of the class like usual.

"Today, you'll finally be going on your 1-day internship. You will get to experience what it's like to be a real ranger, Operator or mechanic." Ms. April said "For that, you will have to go out to the facilities that you signed up for. Don't take any side trips on the way, and please be careful." Everypony got up to leave. I looked at Keith excitedly, Shield went to talk to Rythmi, Ms. April trotted over.

"Heart and Keith, you two are off to the ranger base in Vientown. That's where Crawford is." Ms. April told us "He's the ranger who left our outdoor class to go rescue a man time, remember?"

"Yes." We nodded

"Heart!" Rythmi called, we got up and stood, both of us ready to go."I'm trying out to become an operator, So I'm going off to the ranger union."

"I'm trying to be a mechanic, so I'm off to the union too." Shield said

"Oh, that reminds me. Today's newspaper had a special feature on the ranger union!" Rythmi showed me

"Cool!" I read though it quickly, before giving it back to Rythmi.

"The ranger union is really far from here. We'd better leave soon. See you this evening." Rythmi and Shield left. Keith joined me

"HeRt, you're off to Vientown too right?" Kieth asked

"Yes." I chuckled, he is so forgetful sometimes.

"Let's go together." Keith smiled

"Okay!" I nodded happily, we trotted our way to the entrance, there was a earth pony stallion up a tree crying with two Bidoof at it's base.

"Heeeelp me!" The stallion cried, we galloped over

"Hey, it's little Tim!" Keith said "Playing hide and seek with some Bidoof?"

"No, that's not it! Can't you tell by what you're seeing? These B-B-Bi-Bidoof are attacking me!" Little Tim cried "Listen to them. Beedehoo, Beedehoo! They're going to maul me, I can tell!"

"No, little Tim, I think the Bidoof just want to play." Keith said

"Sure, boy, that's easy for you to say. But I won't deny it. I'm scaed, even deathly a-scared of Pokémon!" Little Tim whimpered

"Awww, but these Bidoof are so cute..." Keith looked at me. "Heart, you've never met? That guy's little Tim. He's the milkman around here. He's seriously afraid of Pokémon, but they seem to like him. I'm suspecting its the smell of milking that make him a Pokémon magnet." Keith fell silent "Anyway...A Pokémon Ranger always steps up to lend a helping hoof. These Bidoof seem kind of Agitated though. They might be a bit tough. Let's split upy. You capture one, and I'll capture the other."

"Right!" We both capture a different Bidoof. Keith had been right, the one I captured was tough...we released the Bidoof.

"Okay, that's done." Keith looked up at Little Tim "Everything's under control. We've calmed the Bidoof and released them." Little Tim climbed down.

"Aiyiyi, that scared me a-plenty. I was good and scared, but I was saved. I was saved, but still good and scared." He sighed "But I owe both of you a big thanks. Those Bidoof were out to maul me. By the way...This here student seems to be a new face to me."

"This is Lighting Heart, who came here from Fiore. Heart's awesome at doing captures!" Keith said, I blushed slightly. "Second only to me even."

"Oh, a new student you say? Well, my new friend' Thank you ever so kindly for saving me. I run a small dairy farm with my family in a town called vientown." Little Tim said "You should come calling one day. It'd be like this. Our young'uns will be happy if you visit."

"Little Tim has a bunch of kids." Keith explained "His wife's famous around here too."

"I surely won't forget you saving me. You'll make fine rangers. I'm sure of that." With that, Little Tim went off.

"We're running late!" Keith said "Let's hurry to Vientown. We set off again, But Ms. April stopped us.

"Heart! Keith!" She called, just as we left the gates, she trotted over "You helped Little Tim with captures, I've heard. And instead of competing like usual, you even cooperated with each other. That's how real Rangers will act. Now, keep your chins up and off you go to Vientown as if you were real rangers!"

"Thanks Ms. April!" We rushed off. As we crossed the bridge there was a little filly.

"Who's that little filly?" Keith asked, we went over. "Hi there. What's up?"

"My big brother...he's not here..." She said, Keith and I looked around.

"Your big brother, huh?" Keith asked. "Who might that be?" A stallion from the other class trotted up behind us, his name was Ponte Marshmallow.

"Hi, what's going on?" He asked, Isaac come over too.

"Melody?" I saac asked, "Melody, is that you?"

"Hi Isaac!" the filly, Melody smiled. "I came to meet you!" she gave him a hug. Isaac hugged her back

"Melody! I told you not to. Didn't I say you're not allowed to leave Pueltown by yourself?" Isaac told her

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to see you..." Melody sighed

"Melody...You're still a little filly. That's why I worry about you so much." Isaac smiled and looked at us. "Well, let me introduce you to my friends. This is my little sister, Melody."

"I'm Ponte." Ponte smiled "And this is Keith and Lighting Heart. Nice to meet you, Melody!"

"Melody?" Isaac turned to his sister. "I'm not angry with you anymore. Thanks for coming to meet me. We'll go back together."

"Yep!" Melody smiled. Isaac and Ponte went ahead, Melody turned to us. "Bye, bye, big brother's friends." She then galloped after Isaac.

"We have to get moving too." Keith said "We'll look bad if we show up late!" We galloped off.

Soon, we stood in front of a ranger base.

"I'm pretty sure this is the town. Oh wow, my hearts starting to pound? How are you feeling?" Keith said

"Nervous, but it will be fine." I placed a hoof on him, we then trotted in.

"It's awfully quite...Isn't there anypony here?" Keith muttered, much louder he added "Hello? We're here from the ranger school! We're Keith and Lighting heart!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I had to duck down for something, so I didn't see you come in." We saw a unicorn Operator, smiling at us."You must be the students for the 1-day internship. I had something for you, over here please." We went over . "Are you surprised by how quite our ranger base is?"

"Yeah, where is everypony?" I asked

"Everypony had to go out to handle a critical mission." The operator said

"Everypony had to go out? It must be one whopper of a crisis." Keith looked at me.

"Yes, yes it is. Some Bidoof...oh no..I can't force myself to say it" The operator flinched. "But anyway, I think I know who you are. Lighting heart and Keith from the ranger school. We've been told you were coming. Our leader left me a letter for you. Let me read it to you." She cleared her throat and lifted a letter with magic. "Welcome to the both of you. Here's a mission from the get go. I've left an extremely important parcel with our operator. Collect it from her and bring it to breeze hill, which is west of the town." She put the letter away. "That's it for the letter. I have the extremely important parcel right here fore you. Please don't tip it on its side, and never ever flip it upside down...please treat it with care." I took off and took the parcel with my hooves, being real careful wit it. The operator gave us directions and we then set off.

"I wonder what the mission parcel is...for such a critical mission I thought they would have everything?" I said as we left the base, Keith trotted next me whilst I flew.

"beats me." Keith said, he stretched, a relaxed smile on his face, I found myself gazing at hI'm. I turned away, blushing...oh boy...I had never seen him so relaxed before, it made him look cuter. "Are you okay Heart?"

"Yep!..but I-I'm worried. I hope the rangers and the Bidoof are okay." I said

"I'm sure they're fine!" Keith grinned, I looked at him, and smiled.

"Yeah...you're right. The best thing we can do is to get this parcel to them in o e piece." I said

"Oh look! The beach!" Keith galloped ahead, I sighed.

"Careful, Keith..." I fluttered after him.

"This place is great!" Keith smiled "It's beautiful!" He looked over at me."Er..." I laughed

"Wow, you can be childish sometimes." I smiled, I thought I saw Keith blush, but thought nothing of it. "Breeze hill is that way. Please don't leave me behind this time."

"Okay." He said, we headed to breeze hill, but we stopped by a old stallion with 3 Pokémon, Munchlax, Starkly and Pachirisu.

"Ah, Pachirisu, Pachirisu. So cute, so cute. What's wrong? What's wrong, Munchlax? You're not saying you're hungry already?" The old stallion said "Ah, Starly, Starly. Go on eat up all you like." The Pokémon moved closer to the man, he saw us. "The way you're dressed tells me you're students of the ranger school, yes? 1-day internship, I would guess."

"That's right." I nodded

"Well, then, let me give you a quick quiz that you'll find enlightening."He said "Here's my first question. What is a partner Pokémon?"

"Oh, that's an easy one!" Keith said "A partner pokemon is a especially friendly pokemon that always goes with a ranger."

"Ding-Ding. Correct! The rangers I know all said they met their first partners here at Nabiki beach!" The stallion said "Very well. Question two, A ranger can only have one pokemon as their one and only partner?"

"nope, that's not true!" Keith answered.

"Ding-ding! Right again ! A ranger will get opportunities to add a second partner and more as time goes on." The stallion smiled "But you can still only have one partner accompany you at one time. The others partner pokemon must remain patient at home."

"Wow, thanks!" I smiled "I learnt a lot!" Keith and I said good bye. Pachirisu and I caught each others eyes. I felt something strange, but I looked away and followed after Keith . We stopped at the bottom of some stairs.

"Breeze hill's probably just up these stairs." He said, he looked nervous."I wonder what kind of critical mission is going on up there...even I'm starting to feel kind of nervous."

"Well, lets go up..." I flew ahead, leading the way up. We soon reached the top.

"Oh, hey! Rangers!" Keith pointed out "There's Ranger Crawford from our outdoor class." I saw them too...but they didn't look as if they were on a critical mission."So, what do we do? Just go up and introduce ourselves, right?" This time Keith trotted over first, I followed him "He-Hellomeetcha..." They all turned and looked over. A largely built unicorn stallion of dark chestnut with a dark mane looked at his Pokémon, then trotted over. He had a ranger styler with a rock as his cutie mark.

"Did I just her you say 'hellomeetcha'? You're nervous?" He asked "Well' that's not hard to understand. This is, after all, a key mission. so... the extremely important parcel. I fully expect it to be safe."

"Right here sir!" I looked at the parcel I held in my hooves.

"Hand it ove, but be gentle." I gently placed the parcel down and landed next to Keith, but my wings remained open, It was rare I was ever allowed to use my wings at school."Alright Ponies! Gather 'round! Lunch's here!" Everypony gathered around as Stallion placed the parcel in the centre of a blanket that was lay out.

"I was getting impatient for this!" A mare said, she wasn't wearing a ranger uniform, I guessed she was a mechanic.

"Hahahahaha! Oh, the stunned looks on your faces!" Crawford laughed, pointing a hoof at them, I final saw his cutie mark. A capture disk spiking around around a what looked like a joke book, his eyes twinkled playfully."Remember me? I'm Crawford like, Crawford from your outdoor class. I'm sorry I had to cut that class short for handling that mission. Do you remember this? My partner Pokémon Budew." Budew smiled, the dark coated stallion returned to the head of blanket.

"Good work, both of you! This mission cleared. The name's Barlow. I'm the leader of this Ranger base." Barlow smiled, he looked at the pokemon next to him "This is my partner pokemon, Makuhita."

"Maku!" Makuhita said

"Oh, there's amother thing... this prank isn't my doing, Crawford there thought it up." Barlow said

"That's not fair, Leader!" Crawford looked at Barlow "You're the one who was going on about what a great idea it was!"

"Hi, I'm Luana!" A light hazel unicorn mare smiled, she was in a Ranger uniform, her cutie mark was a capture disk next to a rose with thorns.."I fell for this same 'Gotcha' prank a year ago. But in my case, the lunches were all mushed up from me swinging the parcel around! I'm pleased to meet you! This Buneary is my partner Pokémon. Isn't she a cutie?" Buneary smiled and bounced around.

"I'm not a Ranger. I'm a mechanic. My name's Elaine, but don't worry if you can't learn all these names at once." The last made smiled, she was a white earth pony with black splotches. Her cutie mark was a dismantled styler next to a screwdriver.

"Uh, um, I'm Keith! and this is Lighting Heart! We're, uh, reporting for 1-day internship duty. And ,uh, I wish I could have a partner Pokémon of my own one day."

"Me too!" I nodded, I closed my wings and smiled.

"On, starting to feel t ease now? sorry for tricking you two like that." Barlow smiled "It's become tradition for us. That's enough with the introductions leader! Let's feast on the extremely important parcel they kindly delivered!" Barlow said

"Yes, I'm famished!" Lunana smiled, the parcel was opened, Keith and I stared, mouth agap at the contents.

"The, let's get right down to it! Welcome to our trainee-welcome lunch!" Barlow smiled

"Wow, the food even looks delicious! It's not like last years!" Elaine said

"I'm sure glad to hear that!" Keith sighed

"Yeah!" I leaned closer to Keith. "You may claim you are better at captures, but I'm the best parcel carrier!" We brined and dug in. I stopped half way through and apple. Something felt wrong, I could tell by the wind. I opened my wings again. the breeze felt different...The rangers, Keith and Elaine hadn't felt it. I got up and slowly fluttered to the path that headed down the hill, a young stallion ran up.

"Help! Rangers!" He gasped "Po-Pokémon have got wild!" Barow galloped over to him.

"What seems to better the matter?" Barlow asked

"We were down on the beach when the Pokémon there started acting mean." The stallion explained "They've surround my marefriend and won't let her go!"

"Okay. I get the picture. We'll handle it from here." Barlow turned to everypony. "It's an emergency mission! We're taking a break from lunch. To Nabiki beach! Move it! Heart, Keith you too!"

"Roger!" We all coursed, I watched the rangers do their ranger poses, and galloped down to the beach.

"Heart, let's go!" Keith told me, I nodded and followed him.

I stopped beside Keith. We all looked down at the beach.

"We have to clear this mess up." Barlow said

"What happened to the Pokémon anyway?" Crawford asked

"They look like they could be dancing..." Elaine muttered

"They're friendly and docile usually." The old stallion from earlier said. "They're not like themselves." The 3 Pokémon from earlier and two shallow were circling a mare.

"Please! Do something! Hurry!" She cried. I nudged Keith with my wing, he looked at me.

"Heart?" He asked

"They look pained...whatever it is that made them act this way is hurting them..." I said, Keith looked thoughtful.

"Okay, Ponies, listen up!" Barlow said "Crawford and I will capture the shallow! Luana, Keith and Heart! You capture the other Pokémon! Keith and Heart, capture your barge Pokémon just like you learned at school." Keith and I finally made our ranger poses along with the other rangers. Mine involved me throwing my styler and flying loop before catching it. Kaith and Luana headed down. I was about to join them but I was stopped.

"They're good Pokémon really." the old stallion said "I don't know whats gotten into them. Pachirisu, Munchlax and Starly. They're adorable and reliable, too. Why, if I was arranger, I'd be honoured to have them all as my oartnr Pokémon. Yes, indeed, they are that good. I beg you, please calm them down!" I nodded, I followed my heart and went straight for Pachirisu.

"Capture on!" I lunched my capture disk. I had to save Pachirisu from the pain!

A little while later, all the Pokémon were capture and calm.

"How's it going ponies?" Barlow asked "Your vapotures successful?"

"You bet leader," Crawford nodded "How about you Luana?"

"I got hung up a little at the start, but I managed." Luana said " How about the students?"

"We students succeed with our captures, too." Keith smiled

"There appear to be no injuries to Pokémon or ponies." Elaine said, she had watched the captures.

"Good work ponies!" Barlow smiled "The Pokémon seemed to have calmed down, too. They're good to go. Let's release them." Barlow, Crawford, Luana and Keith released their Pokémon, but Pachirisu and I bonded beyond normal captures the moment the capture succeed. It was strange, but I completely trusted this Pokémon. I could tell this was no normal capture... Barlow and the others looked at me.

"What's the matter?" Barlow asked "Some pony must've taught you how to release Pokémon by now!"

"Yeah...but..." I looked at Pachirisu

"Chwa!" It smiled

"You've grown attached to that Pokémon?" Crawford smiled

"Yeah!" I smiled and held out my wings, Pachirisu jumped on and raced from one wing to another, it tickled!

"Thank you for saving my marefriend." The stallion smiled

"We heard strange noises from the sea. We noticed a big cargo ship pull away and disappear over the horizon. And then, all of a sudden I was surrounded by by Pokémon...I think they were startled by the cargo ship." the mare said

"Well, whatever happened, I'm glad to see you folks safe." Barlow turned to Crawford and Luana "Crawford, Luana, sweep the beach. Just to be on the safe side, all right?"

"Roger that leader!" Crawford nodded

"Understood." Luana smiled

"Heart and Keith, good work. You did well on your captures. Thanks in no small part to yon two, we managed to calm down those Pokémon. In the world of rangers, we call it ...mission clear!" Keith and I did our ranger poses, smiling. "Well, I be. You've already got Ranger poses! Looked good too. Anyway..Alright Ponies, we should head back to the ranger base." Barlow began to trot back, but stopped "Oh, hold it a second. We need to clean up after our lunch! Heart and Keith, you two can go back to base without us. To make up for that prank, we'll do the cleaning up. Sundown's coming soon. Let's move it ponies!" The rangers went off. Kaith and I headed back, I released Pachirisu, but it followed us. But stopped as we entered the ranger base.

"Well, the rest of the sandwiches we brought back have been 'cleared'. There's nothing else on the agenda. It's time we said goodbye to them." Barlow smiled "Heart and Keith, don't forget those captures you did today."

"It would be neat if the both of you were assigned to our base...We'll be sure to keep you busy delivering our lunches!" Crawford joked

"You know, Crawford was really looking forward to today." Luana smiled "He was saying how he would get to see those kids from outdoor class again."

"Your ranger poses were really cute!" Elaine said

"Everypony, thank you so much!" Keith said "We'll never forget all we experienced today, I'm sure of it. Thanks again and good-bye." Keith and I were about to leave, but an old stallion with a lab coat and glasses trotted in.

"Ah, what do we have here.? What is this gathering about?" The stallion saw us."Him? Your ranger school students? Ah, so you are! This is 1-day internship at this ranger base, I see. Come to tink of it, we had a young mare and stallion come the the ranger union on a 1-day had heard mind set on operator, and his on a mechanic. That cheerful pair. I do believe their names were,uh...Misery and lighting ...rod? something like that." He smiled. "Well, I've memorised for faces." I hope you two will give me the chance to work with you in the near future."

"Sure, bye!" I said as we left, only to bump into Pachirisu

"Oh, hey! You're one of those Pokémon!" Keih said, Barlow came out with Crawford.

"What's all the shouting out here?" Barlow asked "Is there a problem?Oh, a Pokémon from the beach?"

"Oh, I get it!" Crawford said, "I bet it came to see Heart because its happy about being captured!' Pachirisu jumped up happily.

"That sounds possible. But these two aren't Rangers yet. Not officially, anyway." Barlow looked at me and Pachirisu. "We can't permit you to have a partner pokemonr. I know how disappointing it is, but not this time. not now." Barlow stopped in a bought. "It's okay if you want to spend sometime together though. But be sure to release it before you go back to school."

"Thank you, com one Keith," I smiled, Pachirisu jumped on to my back and took off, Keith laughed and galloped after us.

Half way across the bridge, we stopped. Pachirisu slid down my tail, Keith and I turned to it.

"It's sad, but we have to wave bye-bye hto you here little guy." Keith told Pachirisu."Wonder if we'll ever meet again? It would be great if we could..."

"I'll see you again, promise." I told Pachirisu" Even if I am sent to another region." I smiled and hugged it, Pachirisu ran towards vientown, it looked back, before running off again. We turned to head back to school.

"Yoohooo! Wanna be Rangers!" A voice called, we saw Rythmia and Shield galloping over "You getting back now? How did it go as rangers?"

"It was like, wow!" Keith smiled at me "As soon as we got there we were assigned a mission. Oh ,but, it was top secret. Can't give out any details. Sorry."

"It sure was fun though." I added

"Well, we went through a whole lot too. Professor Hastings kept mistaking my name to be misery, for one thing." Rythmi said

"He kept calling me lighting rod!" Shield sighed, I giggled

"We know! we met him before we left." I smiled

"It's going to get dark soon. We should hurry. Let's report on our days later, who we get back." Rythmi said. "Ms. April will be waiting for us." We headed back to school.


	5. Chapter 5

_nibbles end of pen._ Okay... Check...check... Keith finally gets a cutie mark... R&R

* * *

chapter 5 - Grad heroes.

 _Heart, you're going to be graduating soon! Did you hear our news? The three of us are very close to you now because we all moved to Chicole village yesterday._

 _Oh, mama got yon a dress for your graduation party._

 _Silver wing_

the days after the 1-day internship past so quickly. Our lessons and our life at the eager school was coming to a swift close. On our last day, Ms. April looked at us from the front of the class.

"Well, class, this is it." She said "This will be the last time I speak to you like this in our classroom...Yes, today is the ranger school's graduation day. I imagine you all have lots to talk about before the ceremony, so this is free time. Feel free to visit other rooms and say your goodbyes. But remember, when you hear the bell be sure to gather in the main hall."

"We will" we answered, we all got up.

"Hey, we finally made it to graduation." Keith said "You've been assigned to Vientown. I'm off to the faraway Fiore region."

"You'll love it there." I gave a sad smiled

"I guess we won't be seeing each other for a while..." He gave a weak smiled

"Yeah, but let's stay friends." I said, I was overcome with sadness. I headed outside for some air. As soon as I hgot outside the bell rang "Already?" I muttered, Keith came out.

"Heart! That's the bell!" Keith said "The graduation ceremony's about to begin!"

"Yeah..." I followed I him inside.

Soon, everypony, including the teachers, stood in the main hall.

"The ranger school graduation ceremony will now commence." Mr. Kincaid said "First our principal's congratulatory remarks. Principal Lamont, if you please." Principal Lamont stepped forward.

"Congratulations, graduates. I am truely delighted that I can be here to greet this day with all of you. Rangers, Operators and Mechanics. Though these paths may take you in different directions , What I hope fore all of you is but the same." Principal Lamont smiled "Don't worry, I'm not going to ask something impossibly diffcultmor challenging. Please, don't forget to smile. That's all I wish of you. With these simple words, I wish you the ever best in all your endeavours."

"Thank you Principal Lamont." Mr. Kincaid said "Next let me call upon the graduating class's valedictorian. That will be our best student, Isaac." Isaac trotted up and faced us.

"Today, we leave the shelter of this place of learning and nurturing. It's a giant step for us in our pursuits of our long-held dreams." Isaac said "To our teachers who inspired us...To Janice, who was mother to us all...To all the Pokémon that loved us...And to all the books of the library! We will never forget. Thank you also very, very much from all of us." We stomped our hooves as Isaac returned to his place.

"Next, the conferring of the graduation certificates."

"I would like to call upon one student as the representative of the graduating class." Ms. April smiled, Keith looked hopeful. "Lighting Heart, step forward please." Me!

"Whoa! You're the representative!" Keith judged me "That's wicked cool Heart!" I smiles and trotted up, but the ground began to shake. I shot up, flapping my wings as the rest of the class had to steady themselves on their hooves. "What was that? An explosion?!"

"That noise came from the basement!" Rythmi said

"Everypony, keep calm!" Ms. April said. I flew over to her, I kept off the ground.

"I have a bad feeling Ms. April..." I muttered

"I...I'll go see what that was!" Mr. Kincaid galloped down. We waited. "Wash!" We heard a cry "Stop! Stop that!" Suddenly two Tanglegrowth came up, everypony screamed and galloped away. The Pokémon jumped, causeping the building to shake. Keith and I stood in front of the students, we watched the Pokémon through narrowed eyes.

"Heart, let's capture those things!" Keith said

"They're Pokémon Kieth. It looks like something, or someponh angered them!" I got out my styler

"I guess you're ready then?" He got out his own styler. I nodded and took off over the heads of the Tanglegrowth. Capture on! Keith and I released our capture disks at the same time.

I captured mine with ease, Keith had no problems with his either. I put my styler away.

"Yes! Capture successful!" Keith turned to me as I landed. "Heart, we did it." We released the Pokémon. Rythmi and Shield galloped over.

"You two are awesome!" She cheered

"Best style work ever... Oh, Keith..." Shield pointed at Keith's once blank flank. There was a brand new cutie mark.

"Wow, Awesome!" It was the Ranger symbol with a Capture styler. "I said I was the best at captures!" We laughed, I looked sadly at my blank flank, Rythmi placed a hoof on my shoulder, she didn't have her cutie mark either, nor did Shield.

"Alright!" I smiled, Keith and I did our ranger poses!

A while later, after everypony had calmed down and stopled admiring Keith's new cutie mark, We stood in our previous places.

"Mr. Kincaid! You're not hurt are you?" Principal Lamont asked

"I...I think. Yes, yes. I'm fine." Mr. Kincaid replied "I must admit, even I couldn't tell why on earth was happening..."

"Ah, so even Mr. Kincaid is at a lost to why those Tanglegrowth rampaged. That's a shame..." Principal Lamont sighed "Still, everypony seems safe. That certainly is a great relief. Well, Shall we continue with our graduation ceremony?_ Mr. Kincaid returned to his place.

"I would like to call upon one student as the representative of the graduating class." Ms. April repeated herself "Lighting Heart, step forward please?" I did, I trotted over the principal. He smiled at me.

"Heart and Keith. Thank you for coming to the protection of everypony." He said "It was very impressive to see you calmly go about your captures with no panic. You've provided Everypony with a good example of taking charge in a crisis. Now, as representative of the graduating class I confer you this certificate." I had to take to my wings, just to take the Certificate, the Principal smiled .

"Thank you sir." I smiled, I flew back to my place, I landed on three hooves, holding the certificate with the finally hoof, but I took the certificate under my wing so I could say and on all four hooves.

"And finally...the time has come for all of you to set sail into the vast horizon that is your future." Principal Lamont said "In closing, I will say this once again. Please, don't forget to smile. Congratulation, Grads!"

"Wow, neat dress Heart!" Magic grinned, as I spun, the girls helped with my mane.

"Thanks, everypony ready to strut our stuff?" I laughed, we all headed down to the graduation ball in the main hall. It was past midnight when it ended. I looked down at my certificate. I felt tears well up.

"Heart?" Rythmi asked, She and Keith had been talking nearby, Shield had left early.

"Uh...uh..." I wiped my eyes

"Are you okay?" Keith asked

"I'm going to miss you guys so much!" I said "Who knows if we'll ever meet again..."

" We will! I pledge it on our friendship!" Rythmi hugged me

"Me too!" Keith wrapped a hoof around me too.

"Me three..."I chuckled weakily, having the last group hug...


End file.
